Chapter 107: The Soul Tempering Grounds.

The car ride was relatively short due to the reckless driving. But they had both gotten used to it by this point all though not many people would actually enjoy being driven around by a mad man.

The car pulled up outside Suyins house just as the sun disappeared into the distance. The streetlights began to light up the city on by one and a cool breeze rolled in with the clouds.

"I will miss you," Suyin said before hugging Haru as tightly as she could.

"I'm going to miss you too. But you can come over whenever you want to." Haru reassured her before saying goodnight with a kiss. And watched her until she entered her house. As he turned he saw the taillights of the car that he had come in turning the corner.

Haru sighed as he started to regret coming out for a walk. 'What should I do now? He thought before pulling out his phone.'

"I might still be out when you get back. Don't wait up for me. He sent a text to Zen and then carried on with his walk.

Headlights passed in both directions as he walked through the city streets toward a large forest on the outskirts of Shenzhen.

"Lao, What is the best way to improve with a sword? I have been thinking a lot recently and I want to learn how to fight with a sword." Haru asked using his spiritual sense to communicate.

"You what to learn how to fight? Just use the technique that I gave you. That's all you need to do. I purposely made it easy for you to understand so you wouldn't need to ask me for help." Lao said back.

"But that is just the thing. I feel like cultivation is useless right now. I haven't been able to fight someone to my fullest extent. I mean it is fun being strong but I feel useless." Haru replied.

The was a pause of silence before Lao chuckled to himself.

"You are just like Li Jun. He had the same mindset as you. Although much later in his training. I didn't expect you to feel like this so early on. Well, I have a way you can fight strong enemies and improve your swordsmanship but it's a little dangerous." Lao warned him.

"You do? Then what is it? I don't have to go anywhere do I?" Haru asked. Confused. He wasn't sure what Lao meant. 'Why wouldn't he say so before if there was a place close by where he could go to train?' He thought.

"Well, you won't have to go anywhere physically at least. It's a place called the Soul Tempering Grounds. Many of the sects in the upper realms send their disciples there to train.

No matter how injured you get you won't be affected physically so it is the perfect place to test your fighting capabilities. All though you could receive a serious injury to your soul if you aren't careful.

The Soul Tempering Grounds are a bit of a problem though. I won't be able to step in to stop anything from happening to you." Lao said and then waited for Haru to respond.

"That's fine. I did ask you if you knew a way. I can't ask you to save me if I get into trouble after asking you for something." Haru smiled as he walked deep into the forest.

"Then let me explain a little bit more to you so that you understand.

First of all, the reason that I won't be able to save you is that your soul will be taken to a different place from your body. Unless I attached myself to your soul instead of the ring I won't be able to do anything. But that wouldn't be any good since your body couldn't handle a piece of my soul.

Secondly, The way the Soul Tempering Grounds work is by sending your soul into a small world with another person's soul. The only way to escape the small world will be by defeating the other soul. There are no referees to stop the fight. You either have to damage the person's soul or make them surrender.

There will be people much stronger than you right now but you shouldn't worry too much when you arrive. They have a system for selecting opponents. It takes into account the strength of your soul and your cultivation level. You will always be matched with someone either as strong as you or at the same cultivation level.

There is also another feature with the soul tempering grounds though. These small worlds you are sent to are often inhabited by soul beings. They are the souls of beings or beasts that have not entered the cycle of reincarnation.

If you destroy the soul of these beings you will absorb their soul essence and it will temper your soul. So you shouldn't expect to fight your opponent right away. You should take the time to strengthen your soul. If not then the other person could, in theory, strengthen their soul to the point where defeating you becomes child's play.

Everybody who enters the grounds knows about this so that is the main strategy for defeating your opponent. But that isn't the best way to strengthen your self before the fight. And you shouldn't focus on it.

Since you are from the lower realm you are used taking in the high amounts of Qi that exist in the upper realm so it will be a huge advantage for you to just cultivate. Although it won't be cultivating your body since your body will be here.

But it will strengthen your soul. It will trick your soul into thinking that you have achieved a higher cultivation than you actually have so it will strengthen its self to keep up with the non-existent cultivation. The only problem is that if you do it too much you will start being matched against much stronger people.

So make sure you are careful or else it will come back to bite you." Lao explained everything that Haru needed to know.

"That is a lot to digest all at once but I will make sure that I am careful. But how do I surrender if the fight is too much for me? Is there any consequence for doing so?" Haru asked.

"All you have to do is say that you give up. And no there isn't a consequence for giving up. But cultivators especially human cultivators are very prideful and won't give up easily. If you gave up too easily it might even affect you when you make it to the upper realms.

There are lots of sects that won't do any business with people who are known to give up in battle. They are seen as weak or a coward so even in the Soul Tempering Grounds people will fight each other as if their life depends on it." Lao explained.

"Are you serious? If I can't handle the fight I have to wait until my soul is damaged to leave?" Haru asked now in shock. He didn't even want to go if that was the case.

"Well, I didn't say that. I am going to give you something to disguise yourself so you don't have to worry about anything. You will also encounter people who use connections with strong people to pressure people to give up so I will give you something to make sure they can't track you down. Now find a place to sit down and go into your soul ocean." Lao said.

Haru carried on walking through the forest until he came to a clearing and a path opened up to the park next to Zen's house. It was empty and everything was dark. But that was to be expected. So he made his way over to the pond and sat down at the edge of it before entering his soul ocean.

"Okay, I am here," Haru said out loud as he entered his soul ocean. A few minutes went by before Lao showed up out of nowhere.

"Okay. Here is my gift to you." He said and then suddenly a flash of red formed in the air above Haru's face.

"Close your eyes," Lao told him. Haru followed the order and closed his eyes. He wasn't quite sure what to expect but he knew Lao wouldn't harm him.

As Haru stood with his eyes classed he began to feel something hard pushing against his face followed by a soft fabric material at the back of his head. But he kept his eyes closed and stayed still.

"You can open them now," Lao said.

Haru then opened his eyes to find his vision slightly obstructed by a crimson light, He wasn't sure what it was but he knew that there was now something on his face that was emitting light.

"What is it?" He asked Lao.

"I made a mask for you. And if I say so myself it looks great. I used my Qi to form it so you better be happy with it." Lao joked.

"You used your Qi to make a mask how is that possible?" Haru was confused.

"Simple. You right now are able to liquefy your Qi. But when you reach the Transformation stage you gain the ability to solidify your Qi. So you can create anything you want out of Qi if you really want to. Although it does take a lot of practice. But I am sure you will be able to do it one day." Lao explained and then looked at Haru one last time.

"It will be morning soon if you don't stop asking questions. If you want to go you had best get going now." He said suddenly before a white circle began to form in the air in front of Lao.

It looked similar to the spell that mages use to create a spacial rift so Haru didn't need to think twice before stepping into the blinding light